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[RUMOUR] Apple Could Be Using Custom x86 SoC by AMD

HKZeroFive
By HKZeroFive
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According to our sources, Apple is pondering about using custom x86 CPUs in its next iMacs and MacBooks, during 2017-2018. Nowadays it's hard to avoid the use of x86 ISA in high end and professional personal computers, but at the same time Intel CPUs are too expensive if we compare these with ARM SoCs.

So, Apple's target is to realize a complete x86 custom SoC family, like Sony and Microsoft did with their consoles. AMD is the perfect partner to do this. During 2016-2017 Zen will be in the stores, and Apple would be happy to use this to create a polyvalent and powerful SoC. On the other hand, AMD is becoming a company specialized in Custom and Semi-Custom chips, and a huge contract with Apple would be great (even if it has low margins) to advertise its own business.

Not going to lie, the sources are pretty ambiguous here so don't expect this to actually occur, but this could be a great jumpstarter for HSA on x86. Still, Intel is pretty much a synonymous name with Apple products, and if Apple does roll with AMD, it could be huge for both companies and consumers. But this is all a rumour so just keep that in mind.

Sauce: http://www.bitsandchips.it/52-english-news/6183-apple-could-use-custom-x86-soc-made-by-amd

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here we go again. More matchbooks that need reflowed on my desk soon, this time from amd

 

kidding aside, I hope it's true for AMDs sake. 

muh specs 

Gaming and HTPC (reparations)- ASUS 1080, MSI X99A SLI Plus, 5820k- 4.5GHz @ 1.25v, asetek based 360mm AIO, RM 1000x, 16GB memory, 750D with front USB 2.0 replaced with 3.0  ports, 2 250GB 850 EVOs in Raid 0 (why not, only has games on it), some hard drives

Screens- Acer preditor XB241H (1080p, 144Hz Gsync), LG 1080p ultrawide, (all mounted) directly wired to TV in other room

Stuff- k70 with reds, steel series rival, g13, full desk covering mouse mat

All parts black

Workstation(desk)- 3770k, 970 reference, 16GB of some crucial memory, a motherboard of some kind I don't remember, Micomsoft SC-512N1-L/DVI, CM Storm Trooper (It's got a handle, can you handle that?), 240mm Asetek based AIO, Crucial M550 256GB (upgrade soon), some hard drives, disc drives, and hot swap bays

Screens- 3  ASUS VN248H-P IPS 1080p screens mounted on a stand, some old tv on the wall above it. 

Stuff- Epicgear defiant (solderless swappable switches), g600, moutned mic and other stuff. 

Laptop docking area- 2 1440p korean monitors mounted, one AHVA matte, one samsung PLS gloss (very annoying, yes). Trashy Razer blackwidow chroma...I mean like the J key doesn't click anymore. I got a model M i use on it to, but its time for a new keyboard. Some edgy Utechsmart mouse similar to g600. Hooked to laptop dock for both of my dell precision laptops. (not only docking area)

Shelf- i7-2600 non-k (has vt-d), 380t, some ASUS sandy itx board, intel quad nic. Currently hosts shared files, setting up as pfsense box in VM. Also acts as spare gaming PC with a 580 or whatever someone brings. Hooked into laptop dock area via usb switch

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Not going to lie, the sources are pretty ambiguous here so don't expect this to actually occur, but this could be a great jumpstarter for HSA on x86. Still, Intel is has been pretty much a synonymous name with Apple products, and if Apple does roll with AMD, it could be huge for both companies and consumers. But this all just a rumour so keep that in mind.

Sauce: http://www.bitsandchips.it/52-english-news/6183-apple-could-use-custom-x86-soc-made-by-amd

I mean considering Apple has already gone full AMD on their gpu lineup it makes perfect sense.

 

Apple gets a cheaper and inferior product to sell, and people who buy apple don't know any better anyways or care because it's apple.

 

(BTW I don't mean to say that in general AMD gpu's are inferior to Nvidia. This, however, is clearly the case in the mobile lineup, but I would expect there is a fairly large price difference. And we all know how inferior AMD is currently to Intel. But hey maybe a lower powered SOC is ready for finfet...)

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Posted

This isn't a good thing or a bad thing.

It just means the macbook is always going to throttle like a bitch!

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AMD could offer better customization, pricing, licensing, IP for a SoC towards apple than Intel would.

Keeps issues from x86 licencing issues, gives apple the opportunity to be more in control of their processors.

 

Apple could use AMD. But would they? 

Please avoid feeding the argumentative narcissistic academic monkey.

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This wouldn't be a bad idea.  If Apple used AMD CPU and GPU tech in their iMacs, Macbooks, and eventually maybe even more?  Apple is the one company that for all intents, purposes, and best outcome - could take control of AMD and do something good with it.  It's Apple, sure, but hell - that's a lot of R&D cash if they take the steps from using AMD x86 CPUs and their GPUs and then go on to just consuming the company.  That would be a triumphant and explosive return.  

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But the TDP is only 95w not insane 220 again.

both numbers are just one sku 

muh specs 

Gaming and HTPC (reparations)- ASUS 1080, MSI X99A SLI Plus, 5820k- 4.5GHz @ 1.25v, asetek based 360mm AIO, RM 1000x, 16GB memory, 750D with front USB 2.0 replaced with 3.0  ports, 2 250GB 850 EVOs in Raid 0 (why not, only has games on it), some hard drives

Screens- Acer preditor XB241H (1080p, 144Hz Gsync), LG 1080p ultrawide, (all mounted) directly wired to TV in other room

Stuff- k70 with reds, steel series rival, g13, full desk covering mouse mat

All parts black

Workstation(desk)- 3770k, 970 reference, 16GB of some crucial memory, a motherboard of some kind I don't remember, Micomsoft SC-512N1-L/DVI, CM Storm Trooper (It's got a handle, can you handle that?), 240mm Asetek based AIO, Crucial M550 256GB (upgrade soon), some hard drives, disc drives, and hot swap bays

Screens- 3  ASUS VN248H-P IPS 1080p screens mounted on a stand, some old tv on the wall above it. 

Stuff- Epicgear defiant (solderless swappable switches), g600, moutned mic and other stuff. 

Laptop docking area- 2 1440p korean monitors mounted, one AHVA matte, one samsung PLS gloss (very annoying, yes). Trashy Razer blackwidow chroma...I mean like the J key doesn't click anymore. I got a model M i use on it to, but its time for a new keyboard. Some edgy Utechsmart mouse similar to g600. Hooked to laptop dock for both of my dell precision laptops. (not only docking area)

Shelf- i7-2600 non-k (has vt-d), 380t, some ASUS sandy itx board, intel quad nic. Currently hosts shared files, setting up as pfsense box in VM. Also acts as spare gaming PC with a 580 or whatever someone brings. Hooked into laptop dock area via usb switch

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here we go again. More matchbooks that need reflowed on my desk soon, this time from amd

 

kidding aside, I hope it's true for AMDs sake. 

I don't, Intel's iGPU just got extremely impressive, compared to anything AMD could plop out right now dispite the option of being semi-custom, not to mention being one of the few laptops that have iris pro which would be a big step above even broadwells igpu which was amazing. Maybe with Zen architecture but right now I don't see moving away from what Intel has as being a smart move at all. 

Computing enthusiast. 
I use to be able to input a cheat code now I've got to input a credit card - Total Biscuit
 

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This wouldn't be a bad idea.  If Apple used AMD CPU and GPU tech in their iMacs, Macbooks, and eventually maybe even more?  Apple is the one company that for all intents, purposes, and best outcome - could take control of AMD and do something good with it.  It's Apple, sure, but hell - that's a lot of R&D cash if they take the steps from using AMD x86 CPUs and their GPUs and then go on to just consuming the company.  That would be a triumphant and explosive return.  

imb4 iAMD...

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I don't, Intel's iGPU just got extremely impressive, compared to anything AMD could plop out right now dispite the option of being semi-custom, not to mention being one of the few laptops that have iris pro which would be a big step above even broadwells igpu which was amazing. Maybe with Zen architecture but right now I don't see moving away from what Intel has as being a smart move at all. 

Given time frame it could be zen. 

muh specs 

Gaming and HTPC (reparations)- ASUS 1080, MSI X99A SLI Plus, 5820k- 4.5GHz @ 1.25v, asetek based 360mm AIO, RM 1000x, 16GB memory, 750D with front USB 2.0 replaced with 3.0  ports, 2 250GB 850 EVOs in Raid 0 (why not, only has games on it), some hard drives

Screens- Acer preditor XB241H (1080p, 144Hz Gsync), LG 1080p ultrawide, (all mounted) directly wired to TV in other room

Stuff- k70 with reds, steel series rival, g13, full desk covering mouse mat

All parts black

Workstation(desk)- 3770k, 970 reference, 16GB of some crucial memory, a motherboard of some kind I don't remember, Micomsoft SC-512N1-L/DVI, CM Storm Trooper (It's got a handle, can you handle that?), 240mm Asetek based AIO, Crucial M550 256GB (upgrade soon), some hard drives, disc drives, and hot swap bays

Screens- 3  ASUS VN248H-P IPS 1080p screens mounted on a stand, some old tv on the wall above it. 

Stuff- Epicgear defiant (solderless swappable switches), g600, moutned mic and other stuff. 

Laptop docking area- 2 1440p korean monitors mounted, one AHVA matte, one samsung PLS gloss (very annoying, yes). Trashy Razer blackwidow chroma...I mean like the J key doesn't click anymore. I got a model M i use on it to, but its time for a new keyboard. Some edgy Utechsmart mouse similar to g600. Hooked to laptop dock for both of my dell precision laptops. (not only docking area)

Shelf- i7-2600 non-k (has vt-d), 380t, some ASUS sandy itx board, intel quad nic. Currently hosts shared files, setting up as pfsense box in VM. Also acts as spare gaming PC with a 580 or whatever someone brings. Hooked into laptop dock area via usb switch

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I can believe it. Intel's constant delays is causing Apple to delay products which they don't want to do. So by making their own custom x86 CPU they can precisely control what releases when.

Ye ole' train

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Given time frame it could be zen. 

Then it would almost be debatable if AMD went sem-custom to actually keep the iGPU from being straved of memory bandwidth, but even then apple would still have to find a work around for thunderbolt to still be included. 

Computing enthusiast. 
I use to be able to input a cheat code now I've got to input a credit card - Total Biscuit
 

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Excellent news post hkzerofive.

Seems amd could find a nice little niche area if zen goes the way they expect

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Then it would almost be debatable if AMD went sem-custom to actually keep the iGPU from being straved of memory bandwidth, but even then apple would still have to find a work around for thunderbolt to still be included. 

Maybe not, they did ditch thunderbolt in favor of a usb type c port on the new macbook, although for the sake of the people that invested thousands in thunderbolt peripherals I hope they don't ditch it completely lol.

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Maybe not, they did ditch thunderbolt in favor of a usb type c port on the new macbook, although for the sake of the people that invested thousands in thunderbolt peripherals I hope they don't ditch it completely lol.

While that was a one off device which had one port.  Now Usb Type C can also be a thunderbolt port so I bet the next device will include thunderbolt in some form. 

Computing enthusiast. 
I use to be able to input a cheat code now I've got to input a credit card - Total Biscuit
 

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This won't be that likely because there are a few things that Apple prioritizes in all their products-lower power consumption, low tdp (in order to reach those slim designs), extremely fast storage, fast low power graphics, and fast cpu cores. AMD likely isn't going to be able to reduce power consumption to be competitive with Intel so you won't see these in their laptops although you might see it in the iMac and Mac Pro. AMD would also have to compete with Intel's impressive Iris Pro graphics so that would be interesting.

 

On further though- custom x86 cores. Is Apple going to be designing them and having AMD make them? Couldn't they just get GloFo to do it?

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This won't be that likely because there are a few things that Apple prioritizes in all their products-lower power consumption, low tdp (in order to reach those slim designs), extremely fast storage, fast low power graphics, and fast cpu cores. AMD likely isn't going to be able to reduce power consumption to be competitive with Intel so you won't see these in their laptops although you might see it in the iMac and Mac Pro. AMD would also have to compete with Intel's impressive Iris Pro graphics so that would be interesting.

 

On further though- custom x86 cores. Is Apple going to be designing them and having AMD make them? Couldn't they just get GloFo to do it?

The licenses would be a bear, AMD has access to the x86 license, using them would give Apple a lot of leeway in the custom design and getting manufactured.

 

Custom x86 cores, with custom interface, bespoke GCN arch iGPU... Triple boot 5k iMac OSX, Windows, SteamOS? Vulkan/DX12 powerhouse?

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All I'm seeing here is Apple continue trying to cut cost on their mac to gain more profit and pretty much disregard the performance the user gets...

 

I mean, by the time they get to use Zen APU, equivalent intel + nvidia combo would probably be far superior in terms of performance. AMD would only win by cost.

 

I guess this would be a nice little boost for AMD although that'll depend on the cut they get and how these new macs are advertised.

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Using a 14nm process, I bet that AMD would be extremely competitive with Intel's power efficiency (at least in mobile). The closest comparison I can find is the FX-8800p vs. I5-2557M, which is 28 at 15-35 watts* vs. 32 nm at 17 watts, both have 4 threads, both have real-life clock speeds around 1.7 to 2.4 Ghz. The FX-8800p gets an average passmark score of 3987, and the 2557M gets an average of 2677. Even when you consider the differences, I believe AMD still has a competitive performance/watt. If this kind of benefit scales similarly passing into 14 nm Zen, AMD could really do a good job competing with Intel, at least in mobile. If there are any flaws in this comparison point them out and I will update.

 

* It can be configured up to 35 watts, although there is currently no product I am aware of going over ~20 watts, with most at 15 watts.

 

https://cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-2557M+%40+1.70GHz&id=814

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+FX-8800P&id=2567

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Until Zen launches we really don't have anything to go on. In AMD's current state it would be a terrible idea but if Zen can deliver it might be worth it. Time will tell.

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